Revelation 11:3-4

3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

The two witnesses are two prophets who will prophesy in Jerusalem for exactly 1,260 days. These two witnesses are witnesses of the God of creation and His Messiah. The message they will give will be that Jesus is coming and to tell Israel and the world it is time to prepare to set up His kingdom on earth that He will rule from Jerusalem. They may also set the record correct about all past historical biblical events. They will give the world the truth and give the world dictates from God to prepare for His Messiah and the Jewish kingdom.

They will use persuasion and judgment to bring the Jews back from the nations to the land of Israel. The world will not want to hear what they have to say from the God of heaven but for 1,260 days the world will be given no choice. If the world will not accept the truth that comes by way of these two prophets God said, He will send the world a strong delusion so they will believe a lie. Those who do not believe the truth from God later will believe the lies of the Antichrist and his False Prophet.

2 Thessalonians 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;  because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The wording in the passages about the two witnesses makes it crystal clear that they are real persons. Those who attempt to spiritualize them and say they are not real persons but only represent the  prophet  and the  law  have embraced a theology of nonsense. The many details of the following passages make it clear enough to those living in reality  that these two witnesses are actual physical persons.

There are different views about the identity of the two witnesses. Just about all scholars who read this book of prophecy in a normal literal sense think one of the two witnesses is Elijah but there is honest disagreement among them on the identity of the other. Elijah is most likely one of them because scripture says Elijah will come before the day of the Lord.

Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet  before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

The Orthodox Jews and many Conservative Jews still expect Elijah to come at any time and they set a place for him at their Passover feasts. Elijah in the Old Testament said it would not rain and it did not rain for three years. Since this prophet will also have this power this appears to be Elijah. In addition,  Elijah never died -  he was taken off the earth. So there is good reason to believe that Elijah is being preserved in the heavens by angels and at the appointed time he will come to complete his ministry on the earth.

The other prophet may be Moses  because of the other things that these prophets do. The main problem with it being Moses is that Moses did die and scripture says it is appointed for man once to die and these prophets are killed at the end of their testimony. Nevertheless, when Moses died scripture indicates it was not because there was any weakness or sickness in his body. It could be that Moses body is protected from decay by the angels and that he will rise from the dead in the same body in the same manner that Lazarus rose from the dead after four days and then died again in that same body of flesh years later. There is a scripture that indicates that this supernatural protection of Moses body is indeed what might have taken place.

Jude 1:9 Yet  Michael  the archangel, when contending with the devil  he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

Some also think it will be Moses and Elijah because both of their ministries were not completed during their time on earth. Further, Moses was seen with Elijah when Peter, James and John were given a glimpse of the future at the time Jesus was transfigured before them to His future glory. (Matthew 17:2)

For many other good reasons some think the second prophet is Enoch. Scripture indicates Enoch never died but was taken alive to heaven. If he is one of the witnesses he can tell the world the truth about events prior the flood. I think this may be important because I believe the great deception will be something similar to what happened in the days prior to the flood.

The scriptures suggest that angels came to earth and produced a race called the Nephilim on the earth (the word Nephilim is translated in most bible versions as giants - they were a race of giants but that is not all they were). After this event, the world became very violent and evil. It got so bad that God had to destroy all flesh. Jesus said that just before His second coming it would be as it was in the days of Noah. I believe the great deception in the last days may involve fallen angels and demons disguising themselves as an advanced civilization from another dimension or planet.

Enoch could explain why this corruption of flesh brought the world judgment of Noah's time and why this could occur again with the mark of the Beast. The sons of Seth theory taught by most in Christianity to explain these scripture passages is just not credible. Other writings found in ancient books shed further light on the account in Genesis and in Jude, when angels came to earth, took human wives and produced a mighty evil race called the Nephilim. This most likely is the root of most ancient mythology of gods on earth.

The fallen angels apparently began corrupting all flesh. God had to destroy all corrupted flesh with the flood to provide a pure line from Adam to the Kinsman Redeemer last Adam and Savior of mankind (Jesus). These non-canonical ancient writings include but are not limited to the book of Enoch and the writings of the great Jewish historian Josephus. Further arguments against the bogus sons of Seth theory and information on the race called the Nephilim can be found on my website.

The Apocalypse of Peter (non-canon, dated about 120 AD) says the two prophets will be Elijah and Enoch. This gives some reason to believe that this is what at least some of the early Church taught about the identity of the two prophets.

I do not think we can know for sure who the second witness will be since a case can be made for either Moses or Enoch. When these two come with supernatural power, everyone will know who the two witnesses are even if they still do not know them by their biblical names.

Whoever they are they will be clothed in sackcloth. This is the dress of those in sad distress and those who are in mourning. They are in distress because God's chosen nation has rejected the true Messiah and now has made a covenant with a counterfeit Messiah that will bring upon Israel and the world the judgments of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.